[1] In 1868 he discovered pyridine and related organic compounds such as picoline through studies on the distillation of bone oil and other animal matter.

He kept abreast of all areas of science, and was able to advise his colleague Joseph Lister on Pasteur's germ theory and the use of carbolic acid as an antiseptic.

Born in Leith,[3] Thomas Anderson graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a medical doctorate in 1841.

In 1852, he was appointed Regius Professor of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow and remained in that post for the remainder of his career.

[4] In 1872, Anderson was awarded a Royal Medal from the Royal Society "for his investigations on the organic bases of Dippells animal oil; on codeine; on the crystallized constituents of opium; on piperin and on papaverin; and for his researches in physiological and animal chemistry."